Thirty years ago, on this day, December 2nd, 1994,
When it comes to protecting the environment and meeting Australia’s international greenhouse commitments, the Prime Minister and his Government” lack vision and direction”, claims a leading solar scientist.
Dr David Mills, a physicist at the University of Sydney, said Mr Keating’s Government offered $150 million “to take down an expressway in Sydney as an aesthetic eyesore, but puts a pittance into development of new technologies to alleviate future environmental and balance of payments disasters. Canberra fiddles while the environment burns.”
Dr Mills will present his critique of Federal renewable energy policy in Sydney today at Solar ’94, the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society annual conference.
Dayton, L. 1994. ‘Canberra fiddles as environment burns’. Sydney Morning Herald, 2 December, p.5.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 359ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that Australia’s policy elites had been shitting on all things climate since about 1990, upping the speed of this from 1991.
The specific context was that a modest carbon tax was on the table. It would have provided reliable and significant funding for renewables. It was defeated.
What I think we can learn from this – Australia is a lucky country led by tenth-rate assholes.
What happened next – the carbon tax was, of course, defeated. Emissions climbed. People got rich and will in all likelihood escape any punishment for their grievous crimes not just against humanity, but against life itself.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day
December 2, 1964 – Mario Savio’s “bodies on the gears” speech at Berkeley..
December 2, 1981 – “Is the world getting warmer?” (YES)
December 2, 1991 – “Ecologically Sustainable Development” bites the dust…
December 2, 2023 – Exxon’s boss vs IEA, planet – All Our Yesterdays